05.30.07

Whether or not blind faith in man-made, catastrophic global warming has become a new religion, many of its adherents, ironically, embrace it with the same type of unquestioning zeal they sloppily attribute to and summarily condemn in Christians.

Case in point: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, after leading a congressional delegation to Greenland, declared that she and her fellow travelers saw “firsthand evidence that climate change is a reality – there is just no denying it.”

Pelosi is also sure “global warming” is caused by human beings. She said, “It wasn’t caused by the people of Greenland; it was caused by the behavior of the rest of the world.”

Well, that settles it then. Speaker Pelosi sees Greenland’s ice expansion, and the world is coming to an end. The debate is even more over; we now have a consensus about the already-declared consensus! Never mind substantial contrary evidence and opinion.

Fred Thompson, actor/politician from the great state of Tennessee, is planning on announcing his bid for the Presidency on the 4th of July. He says he has already raised several million dollars in campaign money.

Fred Dalton Thompson is planning to enter the presidential race over the Fourth of July holiday, announcing that week that he has already raised several million dollars and is being backed by insiders from the past three Republican administrations, Thompson advisers told The Politico.

Thompson, the “Law and Order” star and former U.S. senator from Tennessee, has been publicly coy, even as people close to him have been furiously preparing for a late entry into the wide-open contest. But the advisers said Thompson dropped all pretenses on Tuesday afternoon during a conference call with more than 100 potential donors, each of whom was urged to raise about $50,000.

Thompson’s formal announcement is planned for Nashville. Organizers say the red pickup truck that was a hallmark of Thompson’s first Senate race will begin showing up in Iowa and New Hampshire as an emblem of what they consider his folksy, populist appeal.

A testing-the-waters committee is to be formed June 4 so Thompson can start raising money, and staffers will go on the payroll in early June, the organizers said. A policy team has been formed, but remains under wraps.

Hillary does not like our ‘our your own’ society, but she prefers a society based on shared responsibility and prosperity. In other countries they have a name for her idea: Socialism (and it doesn’t work).

Presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton outlined a broad economic vision Tuesday, saying it’s time to replace an “on your own” society with one based on shared responsibility and prosperity.

The Democratic senator said what the Bush administration touts as an “ownership society” really is an “on your own” society that has widened the gap between rich and poor.

“I prefer a ‘we’re all in it together’ society,” she said. “I believe our government can once again work for all Americans. It can promote the great American tradition of opportunity for all and special privileges for none.”

That means pairing growth with fairness, she said, to ensure that the middle-class succeeds in the global economy, not just corporate CEOs.

PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia (AP) – Malaysia’s top civil court on Wednesday rejected a woman’s appeal to be recognized as a Christian, in a landmark case that tested the limits of religious freedom in this moderate Islamic country.

Lina Joy, who was born Azlina Jailani, had applied for a name change on her government identity card. The National Registration Department obliged but refused to drop Muslim from the religion column.

She appealed the decision to a civil court but was told she must take it to Islamic Shariah courts. Joy, 43, argued that she should not be bound by Shariah law because she is a Christian.

A three-judge Federal Court panel ruled by a 2-1 majority Wednesday that only the Islamic Shariah Court has the power to allow her to remove the word “Islam” from the religion category on her government identity card.

“She cannot simply at her own whims enter or leave her religion,” Judge Ahmad Fairuz said. “She must follow rules.”

John Edwards is confused on many levels. He is definitely confused about how to celebrate Memorial Day. Someone should tell him that Memorial Day is a day to honor the troops who have defended our country in the past and who now serve in our military. It is not a day to protest their efforts. (Someone should also tell him that $500 is too much for a haircut, that you can’t fly in private jets and decry global warming, and that he has no chance of ever becoming president).

Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards is being accused of using the Memorial Day weekend to “trash the sacrifice, honor and glory of American soldiers.” Edwards’ critics say his decision to urge his liberal supporters to use the weekend to protest the Iraq war will backfire on the former North Carolina senator.
Peter Ferrara, general counsel for the American Civil Rights Union, says Memorial Day observances are not an appropriate venue to protest the war. “These Memorial Day events are not about the war in Iraq, so they’re not a place to protest” he declares. “They’re about celebrating the sacrifice and the honor and the glory of our American soldiers and people who serve in the Armed Forces. So, you are tarnishing that with these foolish protests.”

According to Ferrara, Edwards does not understand and wants to “laugh off” the threat of terrorism facing Americans. The conservative attorney, who served in the Reagan White House, contends the former senator wants to leave half of Iraq to al-Qaeda — and he admits he does not understand Edwards’ opposition to the Iraq war.

“We have the Iranian government leadership, which is threatening America with the development of nuclear weapons and openly challenging us with their use against us and our allies,” says Ferrara, setting the stage. “And what John Edwards wants to do is flee Iraq and leave the other half of it to these Iranian crazies, where both these operations would be able to use the place as a base for further attacks against us and our allies. What is he thinking?”

The situation with illegals in America is out of hand. Something has to be done before US citizens who have worked hard and payed into the system for years lose what little bit of social security benefits they have earned.

A domestic policy scholar says the U.S. Social Security system will surely go bankrupt if President Bush and members of Congress who are pushing amnesty for millions of illegal immigrants have their way.

Robert Rector says the so-called “comprehensive immigration reform plan” making its way through Congress would add millions of additional workers to the Social Security rolls. Rector, a senior research fellow in domestic policy at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, DC, says with $18,000 in annual Social Security benefits over a 20-year retirement period, each new amnestied worker would receive over $300,000 in retirement benefits.

According to Rector, if an estimated nine million adults join the system, that would result in a total cost of $2.5 trillion for all the new beneficiaries. “And that cost is going to come crashing into the Social Security System at exactly the time that Social Security is already going bankrupt,” he emphasizes.

Social Security, he asserts, would crumble under those staggering costs. “It’s just an absolutely disastrous deal,” he says in reference to the pending legislation. “It’s ruinous to the taxpayer. It will bankrupt Social Security, not make it better.”

05.29.07

It is like some sitcom stunt. Nancy Pelosi plans a meeting with scientists to talk about global warming while the snow falls outside. It is almost summer!!! It really doesn’t get any funnier than this. What is even more funny is that she and her cronies took jets to attend the conference. It seems that Pelosi doesn’t really care that much about the environment.

What these people need to understand is that God made this earth right down to the last proton and neutron and there is nothing WE can do to completely destroy it. Yes, we should be good stewards of the world He has given us, but it is foolish to believe that we can destroy the world as we know it.

Yes, folks, it’s Memorial Day weekend, snow is still falling in parts of America, England, and Canada, and our House Speaker is traveling abroad to discuss the global warming crisis.

You really can’t make this stuff up!

What’s potentially more comical is that Nancy Pelosi probably doesn’t get the joke, and the press will likely hide the delicious irony so as not to allow the citizenry to get distracted from all the climate change hysteria.

Thankfully, the folks at NewsBusters are more than happy to share a little vaudeville with their readers to brighten up the holiday.

Without further ado, the set up as reported by the Associated Press:

Pelosi, D-Calif., and seven other House members left Saturday for meetings with scientists and politicians in Greenland, Germany and Belgium on ways to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.

Meanwhile, in North Dakota, as reported by KFYR-TV:

It`s May 26th, Memorial Day weekend. Normally, there`d be kids playing on this playground right about now, but instead it`s windy, cold, and there`s snow on the ground.

A bit to the north, as reported by the Calgary Sun:

Homes were left without power, downed trees damaged dozens of cars and school was cancelled for thousands of kids as a blast of record snow slammed many parts of southern Alberta yesterday…The wintry blast topped the previous snowfall mark of 5.1 cm for May 24, set in 1911, with communities on the city’s northwestern edge among the hardest hit.

No one is saying that we should mistreat illegals, if fact, quite the opposite. What needs to be done is to treat all illegals equally. The only fair way to take care of this problem is to make everyone come here in the same manner. All illegals should be sent back to their home country until they are able to obtain the proper paperwork to come come here. It is absurd to allow illegals to disobey our laws and then condone it. Only in America where we have so many bleeding-heart liberals (who also want the minority vote, by the way) would people be allowed to show total disregard for our laws and be rewarded for it.

U.S. Senator Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma) says the so-called “comprehensive immigration reform” bill in the Senate should be based on the needs of the United States, not on the needs of people who want to come into the country. He says he will not vote for the Senate immigration bill because it “undermines the rule of law.”

Senator Coburn says illegal aliens should be treated with compassion, but not given a “pathway to citizenship” unless they do the same things others have done who have entered the country legally. “We ought to have an immigration policy that’s about us, not about people who want to come here,” he insists.

“Canada’s been very successful on having an immigration policy based on a point system, based on what you can do for Canada, not what Canada can do for you,” the Oklahoma Republican points out. “There are 50 million people who have applications right now that come into this country, and many of them are highly qualified people,” he says. ” Many of them have skills — we ought to recognize what benefits us.”

Curbing the problem of illegal immigration should be handled with a staged approach involving border security and workplace verification first before any guest worker program is put into effect, Coburn suggests. The 1986 amnesty for illegal aliens failed because “we don’t have border security and employment verification,” he asserts.

JERUSALEM – The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the declared military wing of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah organization, has formed a terrorist cell living in the vicinity of Jerusalem consisting of Israeli residents ready to carry out attacks within the Jewish state, according to a top Brigades leader speaking to WND.

“We have Israeli Arab brothers who are members of the Brigades who live in Israel and will make in the coming days and weeks shootings and suicide bombings,” said the Brigades leader, who spoke on the condition his name be withheld.

“Even in the case that there will be a cease-fire in Gaza, will keep attacking Israel. They will see the importance of our cells in Jerusalem with more attacks in the near future,” the Brigades leader said.

The claim follows a shooting attack this weekend in an eastern Jerusalem neighborhood targeting Israeli policemen and carried out by two Arab men who were permanent Israeli residents living in the Jabel Mukaber neighborhood on Jerusalem’s periphery. On Saturday, the two opened fire at close range on an Israeli border policeman and a security guard. The policeman was hit in the chest and seriously wounded; the guard was moderately wounded. The Arab perpetrators were shot and killed by Israeli forces.

The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terror group claimed responsibility for the shooting.

Good thing these foods are inspected by the FDA or it’s likely that we would all be sick (or worse). Sounds to me like the U.S. needs to ban all foods from China.

WASHINGTON – While Americans are still recovering from a scandal over poison pet foods imported from China, FDA inspectors report tainted food imports intended for American humans are being rejected with increasing frequency because they are filthy, are contaminated with pesticides and tainted with carcinogens, bacteria and banned drugs.

Last month, like most months, China topped the list of countries whose products were refused by the FDA – and that list includes many countries, including Mexico and Canada, who export far more food products to the U.S. than China.

Some 257 refusals of Chinese products were recorded in April. By comparison, only 140 were from Mexico and only 23 from Canada.

Among the foods rejected because they were contaminated with pesticides:

frozen eel
ginseng
frozen red raspberry crumble
mushrooms
Frozen catfish was stopped because it was laced with banned antibiotics. Scallops and sardines were turned away because they were coated with putrefying bacteria.

Thank goodness! Cindy Sheehan has decided to cut and run from her endless anti-war movement. She has spent several years annoying everyone with war protests that (as far as I can see) have been quite futile. It is time that she move on with her life and put this all behind her.

In a 1,245-word missive entitled “Goodbye Attention Whore” posted on the liberal DailyKos blog, Sheehan said her campaign to end the war in Iraq had strained her relationship with her children, cost her a marriage and left her nearly penniless.

“This is my resignation letter as the ‘face’ of the American anti-war movement,” Sheehan wrote. “I am going to take whatever I have left and go home. I am going to go home and be a mother to my surviving children and try to regain some of what I have lost.”

Sheehan founded the Gold Star Families for Peace after her son, Casey Sheehan, a 24-year-old Army specialist, was killed in an April 2004 battle in Baghdad. Sheehan was an outspoken critic of the Bush administration’s policies and was often a target of criticism herself for visiting with leftist leaders like Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez.

In one of the worse demonstrations of leftest hate or our country, United States flags decorating veterns graves in Washington were removed, burned and replaced with swastikas.
I’m not sure what these people were trying to prove, other than their hate for the United States. If they hate it here so much, then they need to leave.

ORCAS ISLAND, Wash. – Vandals burned dozens of small American flags that decorated veterans’ graves for Memorial Day and replaced many of them with hand-drawn swastikas, authorities said Monday.

Forty-six flag standards were found empty and another 33 flags were in charred tatters Sunday in the cemetery, authorities said. Swastikas drawn on paper appeared where 14 of the flags had been.

Members of the American Legion on this island off Washington’s northwest coast replaced the burned flags with new ones Sunday afternoon.

The vandals struck again on Memorial Day after a guard left at dawn, the San Juan County sheriff’s office said. This time, the vandals left 33 of the hand-drawn swastikas.

“This is not an act of free speech. This is a crime,” Sheriff Bill Cumming said in a statement released Monday afternoon.

Investigators believe there’s more than one culprit, based on the number of flags that were vandalized, Cumming said in a telephone interview. But authorities have no suspects, he said.

The sheriff said deputies were trying to lift fingerprints off what little physical evidence they were able to recover.

05.28.07

Pray for our soldiers fighting in Iraq and for the families of those who have died defending our freedom. Freedom is an expensive commodity. These families know that all too well. We owe much to our servicemen and women past and present. The greatest gift we can give them is our prayer and support.

Dear Heavenly Father,

As we remember those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom, we think of how they have followed in the footsteps of your son, our Savior, Jesus Christ. Please hold our service men and women in your strong arms. Cover them with your sheltering grace and presence as they stand in the gap for our protection.

We also remember the families of our troops, and ask for your unique blessings to fill their homes and your peace, provision and strength to fill their lives.

May the members of our armed forces be filled with courage to face each day and may they trust in the Lord’s mighty power to accomplish each task.

05.27.07

Another case of Christians being banned while other “religions” are being allowed on university campuses.

Scotland’s University of Edinburgh, after proposing a ban on Bibles and denying a Christian campus group the right to hold a conference on the immorality of homosexuality, has extended the welcome mat to the school’s Pagan Society to hold its annual meeting on campus next month.

The pagan conference will feature presentations on a variety of topics, including Magic and Witchcraft in the 21st Century, Pagan Parenting, Pagan Marriage, Pagan Symbolism and Practice and Ancient Greek magic. A workshop in tribal dance will be held at the university Student’s Association.

“It will be an opportunity for people to listen to talks on various aspects of modern paganism and socialize with like-minded people in a relaxed, tolerant atmosphere,” said John Macintyre, presiding officer of Pagan Federation Scotland. “Most people now recognize that the old stereotypes about witches and witchcraft are way off the mark and there is nothing remotely sinister about it.”

“Remotely sinister,” it seems, is reserved for Christians at Edinburgh.

In 2005, WND reported plans to begin banning Bibles from Edinburgh student halls of residence due to concern they are the source of discrimination against students of other faiths.

The ban was a response to student association protests as well as an agenda to equally support all faiths, a university spokesman told the Times of London.

While a Gideon Bible had traditionally been placed in the room of all new students, officials decided they could be offensive to some. Removal, advocates said, was about “respecting diversity,” not attacking Christianity.

The decision to allow the Pagan Society to hold its meeting on campus comes a year after university officials denied the same privilege to the university’s Christian Union.

Officials banned a course on the dangers of homosexuality the group wanted to teach, saying it was in violation of the university’s guidelines. A compromise offered by the university allowed the course to be taught if posters offering differing views were prominently displayed.

05.25.07

Teachers in a Virignia school district are rebelling over being told to hand out flyers to the children concerning a camp for children of atheists. I have a feeling it would be totally against the rules to hand out flyers about a Christian camp. You know it is not okay to promote God, but promoting Godlessness is fine. The fact that God is not allowed in our schools anymore is what has caused our society to denigrate to the low level we see today.

Some teachers in the Albemarle School District in Virginia are rebelling against their managers’ orders to hand out to students as young as kindergarten a promotion for a summer camp that advocates for “Atheists, Freethinkers, Humanists, Brights, or whatever…”

A representative of the teachers talked to WND only on condition that a name and school not be used, and said such advertisements provided by the district to hand out to children violate the teachers’ religious beliefs.

It was the same school district that WND earlier reported was distributing publicity about a “Pagan Christmas ritual” being held in the community.

The newest brochure advertises Camp Quest.
“Camp Quest is the first residential summer camp in the history of the United States for the children of Atheists, Freethinkers, Humanists, Brights, or whatever other terms might be applied to those who hold to a naturalistic, not supernatural, lifestance. Campers are encouraged to think for themselves and are not required to hold any particular view,” the ad says.

Telephone calls to school officials requesting a comment were not returned. But when WND reported on the “Pagan Christmas,” board chairwoman Sue Friedman told WND such ads are distributed because the school was forced to do so, following a decision by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Maryland.

The ruling concluded if one community group is allowed to use a distribution program at a school, then all groups must be given the same access. The district then made a policy adjustment in order to accommodate that ruling, Friedman said.

“In order to allow the YMCA to tell you about their soccer league, or the Boy Scouts to tell you about their new troop, we have to allow all nonprofits,” she said. “That’s why we’re seeing this.”

Be sure to click on the link to see a copy of the flyer for Camp Quest.Original Link

This guy is a hoot! Maybe he thinks if he says that the West cannot invade Iran, it won’t really happen.

The Western powers are unable to act against Iran, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Friday morning, the day after the end of a deadline set by the UN Security Council to halt its nuclear program.

On the backdrop of the increase in the United States’ military pressure, as nine warships arrived in the Persian Gulf, Ahmadinejad spoke in the city of Golpaygan and said that “the Iranians are living in faith and unity under the leadership of Iran’s spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and therefore the world powers will not be able to make life difficult for them.”

On Thursday, the Iranian president ruled out out even a brief halt in his country’s nuclear program, saying it would hand a victory to the country’s enemies who seek to prevent Iran from becoming a world power.

The ISNA news agency reported that the Iranian president referred to the Security Council’s resolutions as “having no influence.”

According to Ahmadinejad, “These sanctions will surely hurt them (the Western countries) more than they hear us, and will bear no fruit.”

Okay the last line of this article really mystifies me. It says, “The Methodist Church bans openly gay clergy, but has no rules about transgender pastors.” Ummmm……. Does the Methodist church have a Bible laying around somewhere? This is definitely an extreme case of the end times ‘falling away’ the Bible tells us about.

Rev. Drew Pheonix says he has had a “spiritual transformation” that apparently is a sexual transformation. In the past year, Rev. Ann Gordon has changed identities to become Rev. Drew Pheonix. The congregation of St. Johns United Methodist Church on St. Paul Street supports the pastor. In fact, in the five years the Reverand has ministered at the church membership has more than tripled.
Neal Gallico lives next door to the Charles Village church and says, “It makes more sense to me if you arrive at that juncture in your life and you make that decision that you’ve been in the wrong body for this number of years than it’s a good step and it’s a mature step.” Max Berest agrees adding, “It’s all about if he inspires people and if his congregation is comfortable with it, it doesn’t really matter.”

However, some conservatives in the group United Methodist Action were appalled releasing a statement saying, “Someone struggling with sexual identity issues needs the ministry and guidance of the Church. But the Church would be wrong to bless a so-called sexual identity change, with or without surgery.”

It is unclear if the Rev. Pheonix has had an operation but admits to seeking medical attention. The Reverand was greeted with open arms as he asked for an official name change before the Church’s Regional Conference in Washington, DC.

The Methodist Church bans openly gay clergy, but has no rules about transgender pastors.

More Muslims killing Muslims. A Muslim cleric has decided that members of Hamas need to be killed “cold-bloodedly” because they have “Jewish Characteristics”. What? If it weren’t so sad, I would laugh at the stupidity. These guys can’t seem to decide whose side they are on.

(IsraelNN.com) A Muslim cleric, apparently from the Palestinian Authority, has released a fatwa (religious ruling) permitting the killing of members of the Hamas terrorist organization. In support of his position, the heretofore unknown sheikh declared Hamas to have “Jewish characteristics,” but added that “the Jews have more mercy” on the Arabs than Hamas.

The fatwa and accompanying argumentation appeared in two articles, one in the Saudi newspaper Al-Watan and the other published on the website of the Fatah terrorist organization, headed by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.

According to a report and translation of the articles provided by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), the Islamic cleric, identified as Sheikh Shaker Al-Hiran, labeled Hamas “Khawarij.” This term is a reference to a group of Muslims that rebelled against the leadership of seventh-century Islam.

“Israel must take its fate in its own hands. There is no other option but to launch a ground offensive in the northern Gaza Strip to reoccupy it,” said a leaflet distributed by the Yesha Council in synagogues across the country ahead of the weekend.

The Council called on the government to “clear the entire area” of the Qassam manufacturing industry, adding that “they should be hit hard with the right maintenance for a long period of time.”

The leaflet also addressed the “errors” of the disengagement plan in a slightly reconciling tone: “In spite of the pain over the injustice and terrible mistakes, made, the situation is reparable. Today there is a broad national agreement among the people that we cannot continue this way. The terror nests must be critically hit and uprooted.”

The Yesha Council also slammed the “conception” according to which Israel can win by fighting from the air, claiming that this had failed in the Second Lebanon War.

“It was proven that only fighting which combines the Air Force’s accurate firing abilities with cleansing and eradicating terror on the ground can improve the results of destroying terror, as was done in Operation Defensive Shield in the West Bank towns.”

Operation Defensive Shield was a large-scale military operation conducted by the IDF in April 2002 after a series of terrorist attacks launched against Israel.

Binyamin Regional Council head Pinchas Wallerstein told Ynet that “without a ground operation in Gaza, the price the people of Israel will pay will be unbearable. The residents in Judea and Samaria see that the threat of terror attacks today is much lower than any period of time since the intifada, and this is without a doubt thanks to Defensive Shield.